Last week, I visited the North Carolina Museum of Art to see two exhibitions on display until early next year.  Samurai: The Making of a Warrior and Venice and the Ottoman Empire.   The Samurai show had a sparseness framing the samurai uniforms alongside weapons such as guns and the various katanas, tantos, and naginatas.  The black lacquered sheathes (especially that one quiver) gave an air of heavy sleek weight.  The Venice/Ottoman show presented an atmosphere of luxury with the fabrics on display that combined the aesthetics of those two worlds.  They also featured Venetian painters such as Titian, Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese. I did notice that, as with the Samurai presentation, the Venice/Ottoman collection displayed weapons and armor, such as helmets, plus an arrangement of bows and arrows. The Samurai exhibit also had prints depicting such warriors, but if you ask me, the actual armor and weapons featured in the museum overwhelmed them.